Nested Revit Repeaters - Gare do Oriente pt 5

How to use Revit adaptive components and repeaters to create a model of Santiago Calatrava's roof structure of the Gare do Oriente in Lisbon:
Part 1 - The rig for one structural column
Part 2 - Placing roof panels onto the rig
Part 3 - Creating the structural elements 
Part 4 - Adding struts to the structure

Part 5 - Assemble Structure on Platforms

YouTube Link

Step by Step checklist:

Add Column Base

• Open your column structure adaptive family created in steps 1 - 4
• Set the work plane as the horizontal reference plane of adaptive point 1
• Place a reference polygon centred on the adaptive point, first making it 4 sided
• It will give four temporary dimensions, one for each side, from the centreline references
• Make these into real dimensions
• Select all four dimensions and associate them to a parameter called 'Half base'

 

• Optional:  create a new parameter called Base Width
• Optional:  add a formula to 'Half base' = Base Width /2
• Select the four reference lines of the polygon
• Create form
• Drag its top surface up, and it should enable a temporary dimension for the height
• Turn that into a dimension
• Associate it to a parameter 'Base Height'

• The family is now ready to use in a project model

 

Create an Array of Columns

• Load the family into a project
• Create railway platforms (floors or extrusions of some kind) 

• Create an in-place Mass family
• Draw a rectangle of reference lines, with the two long sides centred on the outside platforms
• The length of the rectangle should be a multiple of the distance between each platform

• Select the four reference lines (rectangle)
• Create a form
• Drag the top surface of the form up or down so that it is flush with the top of the platforms
• Select the top surface of the form

• Click on the 'Divide surface' icon

• Depending on the number of platforms/tracks, and the length of the rectangle, adjust the number of U and V grid divisions to achieve a square pattern of grids, one per platform - remembering that the number matches the grid lines not the divisions

• Change the surface representation of the divided path; make the Nodes visible

 

• Place one of the structural adaptive components onto any one of the nodes

 

• Select the component and click on the Repeater icon

• It should create an array of columns, one on each node

• Select the divided surface and hide its nodes again, so that they will not be visible in the project in any views.  NB. if any divided path nodes are visible in the structure, you need to hide those back in the family and reload them (which can be painfully slow, so its better to do so before creating the repeater) 
• Finish the Mass family
• In the project Browser, select the column family and change its 'Inside Radius' property to match half the spacing between nodes (platforms) - this should ensure that the overall size of the roof matches the divided surface grid size
• Adjust any of its other properties as desired - eg. Base Height
• The individual nested families will most likely be shared families, unless you changed that when creating them - so you should be able to adjust other parameters by selecting the nested families in the project browser - eg. Number of struts. NB. it can be slow to make those property changes depending on your computer, but remember that Revit is doing a lot of calculating for each change, and it is still much quicker than creating such a structure by conventional Revit modeling tools.
• You should now have a basic parametric model of the railway station roof of Santiago Calatrava's Gare do Oriente in Lisbon

Revit Nested Repeaters - Gare do Oriente part 4

How to use Revit adaptive components and repeaters to create a model of Santiago Calatrava's roof structure of the Gare do Oriente in Lisbon:
Part 1 - The rig for one structural column
Part 2 - Placing roof panels onto the rig
Part 3 - Creating the structural elements 

Part 4 - Struts

Now it is time to really challenge the nesting capabilities of  'Repeaters' in Revit by placing struts on the structure.

Gare do Oriente structural element with struts added

Here is a YouTube link to see it as a tutorial

YouTube:

Step by Step Checklist

In case you prefer reading it step by step:

• Open the 'one-eighth' adaptive component created in the previous blog post

• Select the structural elements and temporarily hide them, to leave the rig visible
• Place two hosted points each on the arc and two of the reference lines

 

• Link the points with reference lines - in the case of the arc, snap to the intersection point along the middle of the arc (NB. make sure 3D snapping is on)
• The purpose of placing new shorter reference lines over the top of the existing ones is to create a rig for the struts to snap to the ends of those shorter lines while still being offset from the adaptive points
• Select the 3 points near the start of each line/arc - remembering the direction you placed the lines/arc
• Associate the Normalised Curve Parameter to a parameter called 'Segment proportion'

• Select the other 3 points near the end of each line/arc
• Change their Measure From properties to 'End'
• Associate their Normalised Curve Parameter to 'Segment proportion'

• Select the reference arc, click on the 'Divide Path' icon

• Repeat this for each of the two reference lines

• Select the 3 new Divided Paths
• Associate their number of divisions with a new parameter 'Number of Struts'

 

• Add a formula to the Segment proportion parameter:
• Segment proportion = 1 / (Number Struts + 1)

• This will make the distance each hosted point is from the adaptive points to be equal to the segments on the divided path
• Flex the Number of Struts parameter to make sure the divisions change and the end points move

Create the Struts

• Open the previously created 2 point adaptive tube family
• Save it as a 3 point strut family
• Add another point in free space
• Make it adaptive (point 3)
• Place a reference line between points 2 and 3
• Place 2 hosted points on the line

• Make their Show Reference properties to be Always visible
• Change their Measurement Type properties to 'Segment Length'
• Change the Measure From property of the second point to 'End'
• Associate their Segment Lengths to the 'Offset from End' parameter
• Set the work plane to be the reference plane of the first point
• Place a reference circle on the point
• Give it a radius dimension and associate it to the Radius parameter
• Repeat for the second point - add a reference circle

• Select both circles and the host reference line
• Create Form - it should create a second tube

 

• Flex the parameters and the adaptive point locations
• Load the V-shaped strut into the other adaptive family

Place the Struts

• Place a component, snapping to the divided path nodes on each path - it is important to select the same node number on each one
• It is better to avoid the end nodes so that you don't accidentally snap to a host point - choose nodes one in from the end

• Select the strut
• Click on the Repeater icon

• If the divided path host references were all created in the same direction, it should create a regular pattern of struts

• Each strut will have different length arms and angle
• NB. if you didn't get a regular pattern, and the struts cross over each other, refer to this link

• Flex the number of struts parameter and the adaptive point locations

 

• Load the family into the rig column structure created previously Part 3 - Creating the structural elements 

• It should overwrite the family already placed on the rig (without struts), and display all the struts

• Try flexing the dimensions and the number of struts

The last stage is to add a base and place the columns on the station platforms . . . .TBA